Abstract

AbstractImproving the health and well-being of society is a priority to many governments. One essential element within this debate focuses on the accessibility and affordability of medicines for patients. Although interest in this area has persisted for decades, the recent shift in this field is manifested by this now being treated as a global concern, rather than as a regional or a national one. Patients in both developed and developing countries alike are facing the same challenges and are under an increased pressure to access and afford treatment. The recently published UN High Level Panel for Access to Medicines Report explicitly stated its view of ‘access to medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and related health technologies as a serious, multidimensional global problem, with challenges that affect all people and all countries.…the High-Level Panel recognizes that the costs of health technologies are rising globally and are being felt by individuals and by public and private insurance schemes in both wealthy and resource-constrained countries alike’ (UN Secretary General High Level Panel, ‘The United Nations Secretary-General High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines Report: Promoting Innovation and Access to Health Technologies’, (September 2016), 12. https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/documents/s23068en/s23068en.pdf.). This thinking represents a fundamental departure from the previous approach which classified the problem related to access to medicines as one mainly attributed to developing and least developed nations. It is within this debate that the role of intellectual property protection in general and by way of the rise of TRIPS-Plus agreements and their impact on accessibility and affordability of medicines takes centre stage.

Highlights

  • There are many factors which impacts the access to medicines debate

  • It will provide useful examples of the positive impact arising from the use of the TRIPS flexibilities and on the other hand will explain the dangers affiliated with adopting TRIPS-Plus regimes in this regard

  • It will provide examples of practises and strategies which would limit the impact of TRIPS-Plus commitments under national laws

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Summary

Introduction

There are many factors which impacts the access to medicines debate. Government policy, industrial development, demography, manufacturing capabilities, market conditions and procurement and tax regimes are some factors. This chapter will look at various factors affecting the accessibility and affordability debate and will focus on the role of intellectual property protection in that process. It will provide useful examples of the positive impact arising from the use of the TRIPS flexibilities and on the other hand will explain the dangers affiliated with adopting TRIPS-Plus regimes in this regard. It will provide examples of practises and strategies which would limit the impact of TRIPS-Plus commitments under national laws

Expensive Medicines
Unequal Investment and More Monopoly
The Double Taxation of Society
Increased IP Standards
The Flexibilities Explained
Putting the Flexibilities into Use
The Shift Towards TRIPS-Plus
Impact and Examples of TRIPS-Plus Obligations
What Could Be Done and What Is Done?
Australia
What Others Are Doing and How They Are Doing It?
Findings
Final Thoughts

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